The subject application is related to subject matter disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-165434 filed on Jun. 2, 2000 in Japan to which the subject application claims priority under Paris Convention and which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cart for mounting and demounting a wafer transfer robot which is engaged in guide rails mounted substantially horizontally on the inside wall surface of a wafer transfer apparatus and is linearly reciprocated substantially horizontally.
2. Related Background Art
A wafer transfer apparatus D described in, e.g., Japanese Patent Application No. H11-21017 is, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, an apparatus for taking out one by one wafers (not shown) in wafer carriers mounted on a load port apparatus L to transfer the wafers onto a wafer processing unit E. Each wafer is transferred by a wafer transfer robot R disposed inside a chamber 1. A pair of wafer transfer apparatus-side guide rails 3 are mounted substantially horizontally one above the other on a wafer transfer apparatus-side base plate 2 disposed inside the chamber 1 nearer the load port apparatus L of the wafer transfer apparatus D. The wafer transfer robot R is engaged with the pair of wafer transfer apparatus-side guide rails 3 and is linearly reciprocated by a linear motor M.
When a malfunction takes place in the wafer transfer robot R included in the wafer transfer apparatus D, in a periodic maintenance or in other occasions, the wafer transfer robot R must be demounted from the wafer transfer apparatus D. The wafer transfer robot R is so heavy that it is difficult to properly demount the wafer transfer robot R only manually by operators.
As shown in FIG. 11, in some cases, walls W are present adjacent both sides of the wafer transfer apparatus D, and in other cases, other apparatuses are positioned adjacent both sides of the wafer transfer apparatus D. In such cases, a gap between the wafer transfer apparatus D and the walls W is small (about 60 cm), which makes it further difficult for operators to properly demount the wafer transfer robot R only manually.
An object of the present invention is to provide a mount/demount cart which can mount and demount a wafer transfer robot on and from a wafer transfer apparatus.
In order to achieve the above-described object, the wafer transfer robot mount/demount cart according to the present invention for mounting and demounting a wafer transfer robot which can be linearly reciprocated along a guide rail mounted horizontally on a wafer transfer apparatus comprises a carrier base and a raised portion raised on the carrier base, the raised portion including a rail provided capable of being connected to the guide rail to slide the wafer transfer robot along the guide rail of the wafer transfer apparatus onto the mount/demount cart.
The mount/demount cart according to the present invention is positioned near the side surface of one side of a wafer transfer apparatus. The guide rail of the wafer transfer apparatus and the rail of the mount/demount cart are connected to each other. A wafer transfer robot disposed in the wafer transfer apparatus slides as it is from the guide rail of the wafer transfer apparatus onto the rail mounted on the mount/demount cart. The wafer transfer robot R is demounted from the wafer transfer apparatus to be supported by the rail of the mount/demount cart. Operators may only slide the wafer transfer robot, which is heavy, along the guide rail, and the operation is simple. Furthermore, the wafer transfer robot is retained upright and retained accordingly stable.